


Baked With Love

by RushingHeadlong



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday, Fluff, Gen, Muffins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27900676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RushingHeadlong/pseuds/RushingHeadlong
Summary: No matter how famous they get, Queen has one birthday tradition that they refuse to give up.
Relationships: John Deacon & Brian May & Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	Baked With Love

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr (@RushingHeadlong) and then I forgot to cross-post it here this past summer for their birthdays lolwhoops.
> 
> Original Notes: Written for an anon prompt for “modern au queen eating muffins. just like hanging out being pals and eating muffins.” This is an absolutely delightful prompt, thank you for giving me something so sweet to write!

It starts when they’re still students, broke and barely scraping by, especially during the summer when Brian’s tutoring job gives him fewer hours and John’s part-time job in the electrical engineering lab doesn’t start up again until fall. Roger and Freddie are still bringing in some money selling vintage clothes on consignment, and the band manages to play a few shows that actually pay them, but times are lean and money is scarce for all of them.

And with four birthdays falling during the summer months, that means none of them can afford more than simple gifts or a few drinks out - so they have to get creative instead.

It’s John who bakes a cake for Brian and Roger to share, since their birthdays are so close together. It’s a bit too sweet and there’s not enough frosting, but after eating ramen for the last two days the four of them happily devour all of it. And when John’s birthday rolls around a month later Brian and Roger try to reciprocate… but they’re more than a little hopeless in the kitchen, and while they argue over whether or not the cake’s sins can be hidden once it’s frosted Freddie takes a few pounds and ducks out to the bakery around the corner.

It’s late enough in the day that there aren’t any cupcakes left in the display so Freddie buys four muffins, chosen with care out of the limited options left, and hurries back to their shared flat where Roger is sulking in the living room and Brian is sullenly cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. The disaster of a cake is, predictably, no where to be found.

“What have you got there, Fred?” Brian asks as Freddie sets the box of muffins on the counter and sets a kettle on to boil.

“Muffins, from the bakery down the street.” Freddie climbs up on a chair to reach into the rarely-used cupboard over the fridge, where he keeps an old tea set stored so it doesn’t get damaged. “They were out of cupcakes.”

“So… What, we’re having a tea party for John’s birthday now?” Brian asks, skeptically.

Freddie gives him a sharp look and says, “Unless you have enough ingredients to make, and probably ruin, a second cake, then yes.”

Brian, wisely, doesn’t say anything else, and when John comes home and sees the tea set laid out on their rickety kitchen table he raises an eyebrow in surprise, but his only comment is, “Lovely. Cake isn’t my favorite anyway - too much frosting.”

That sets off a bit of a ruckus, with Roger loudly demanding to know how _anyone_ could not love cake and Freddie trying to pour cups of tea around flailing arms, and Brian steals the only blueberry muffin before anyone else can try to claim it. It’s messy and loud and everything that a nice afternoon tea probably shouldn’t be - but it’s also very _Queen_ in it’s chaos, and when all is said and done they all agree that it was a great idea.

And so they keep doing it. Brian buys muffins for Freddie’s birthday just a few weeks later, and by the time the following summer rolls around they’re still not rich but they’re starting to gain a solid fanbase and Roger charms his way into getting free muffins for Brian’s birthday after taking a few selfies with the fan working in the bakery and uses the money to buy some better quality tea that they savor for the rest of the summer.

Queen keeps gaining more and more traction, and they finally start to get the fame - and, eventually, the money - that goes along with stardom, but somehow this little tradition sticks around. Even as their birthday parties become grander and more ridiculous, even when they’re halfway around the world on a tour, they still find time to sit down, just the four of them, and celebrate their birthdays privately like this.

“The new china’s a bit gaudy, Freddie, isn’t it?” Roger says, eyeing the tea set with some amused disdain.

“It’s _dreadful_ ,” Freddie agrees. “I thought the floral pattern would be a _bit_ more subtle than this.” He sighs and shakes his head, “If only _someone_ hadn’t broken the last set…”

“For the last time, that wasn’t my fault,” John says, but even though he rolls his eyes there’s no heat in his voice. This argument is several years old at this point, and even if Freddie keeps harping on it there’s no real hard feelings to be found anymore.

“Well it certainly isn’t _my_ fault!”

Brian is ignoring the bickering around him in favor of studying the selection of muffins instead. Gone are the days where they would have barely enough money to buy one apiece. Now there are dozens of muffins in a wide array of flavors arranged neatly on plates all across the table. There’s several pots of tea as well, and a small bottle of gin which Roger snags to pour into his own cup while Brian is still considering his options.

“Just take one of everything, Bri, or else you’ll be here all day,” Roger says. He grabs the closest muffin to him, slices it neatly down the middle, and sets half of it on Brian’s plate. “There. Just do that for all of ‘em.”

“Are you going to eat the other half of all my muffins then?” Brian asks.

Roger grins at him, and takes a bite out of his own muffin half. “Sure!” he says, around a mouthful of food, and Brian wrinkles his nose in disgust.

John pulls an entire plate of whole-wheat honey muffins over towards him. They’re his favorite, and even though this is Freddie’s birthday and not his Phoebe had made them anyway. How Freddie’s assistant has the patience to bake this many muffins four times a summer he doesn’t know, but he’s grateful for it nonetheless.

Freddie grabs a cherry and almond muffin and puts half of it on Brian’s plate as well and then, just to be difficult, John cuts his muffin in half and gifts the part that he didn’t take a bite out of over to their guitarist.

Brian looks down at the small pile of muffin-halves on his plate, and then up at the other three in bewilderment, and then back down at his plate. It’s still early enough that Brian, forever a night owl, isn’t quite firing on all cylinders yet and he just mumbles, “I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work.”

John snorts tea out over his plate and Roger chokes on his own bite of muffin as he laughs and Freddie almost spills his entire cup when he takes pity on Brian and reaches out to take back the half of his muffin.

It’s still messy and loud, because if anything they’ve only gotten a bit more chaotic over the last decade, but in comparison to the party that Freddie will have on Saturday it’s practically tame. And, more importantly, it’s just _them_ \- just the four of them, just like it was back in the beginning. Because these mornings spent eating muffins and drinking tea and laughing together, before the flurry of a show or a long day of recording, are always a private moment of peace just for them.


End file.
